From Social Visibility to Political Invisibility: The School in Nationalist Taiwan as Fulcrum for an Evolving World Ethos

Description

This book began as a year-long ethnography of a school in Taiwan in 1991 then evolved more into a historical sociology of national formation and its cultural mindset.  Cultural nationalism is a widely debated but poorly understood process.  Contrary to prevailing perceptions, the Cold War may have given way to a more progressive open society, but the politicization of ethnicity hardened a more deeply entrenched cultural frame of mind.  Instead of liberating an indigenous reality, Taiwanese consciousness has ironically polarized the political dead ends of reunification and independence.  In the final analysis, the ethnography can serve as a paradigmatic case study for critical cultural studies. There are clear ramifications also for a comparative study of the cultural politics of other Chinese speaking or Asian societies and their histories. Preface Contents 1 Ethnography as Cultural Geography References 2 The Spaces of Nationalist Culture in Taiwan Ideological Discourse and Cultural Identity in “Nationalist” Taiwan “The Three Principles” as Unifying Discourse (Sanminzhuyi Tongyi Zhongguo) “The New Life Movement” in the State’s Project of Moral Regulation Family, School and Militarization in “The Making of Moral Persons” Notes References 3 Education and the Sociology of the Normal The Schooling of Society: Pedagogy in the Disciplinary Order of Things Three Principles Ideology as Educational Policy and Theoretical Discourse Nationalist Education as Ontological Process and Political Socialization Textbook Narrative as Socially Symbolic Act in the Construction of “History” Notes References 4 School Routines in Time and Space Chinese Modern: Form, Hierarchy and Containment as Spatial Governance The Curricular Calendar: Temporal Rhythms and Social Structuration Everyday Etiquette as Modality of Acculturation Socializing Routines in the Conduct of Life Histories Notes References 5 Socialization in the Longer View Everyday Administration in the Vertical Integration of Institutional Power The Disciplinary Production of Activities, Texts and Behaviors The School as a Node of Societal Education “Moral Training”: Institutional Extensions in the Crafting of Citizens Notes References 6 Nationalist Ideology in the Politics of Normalization Indigenization, Multiculturalism and the “New” Nationalism “Knowing Taiwan” in the Global Ecumene The Civilizing Process as a Mode of Cultural Colonialism Learning to De-School: A Post-National Resistance Notes References 7 Anthropology as Writing Power Societal Totalities as Fictive Moment in the Normalization of Theory The State as Passive Subject and Active Agent in Political Legitimation The Government of Life in the Culture of Institutional Practices School as Habitus, or Ethnographic Description as Cultural Critique Notes References Bibliography Index